Dave Reardon: Why not Cal as Hawaii's opponent in Hawaii Bowl?
https://www.staradvertiser.com/2025/11/26/sports/dave-reardon-why-not-cal-as-hawaiis-opponent-in-hawaii-bowl/If behind a paywall, here's some highlights:
As soon as I read Sunday that Nick Rolovich was named the interim head coach at Cal, I quickly checked the Bears' record. OK … 6-5 after that loss to Stanford. They're bowl eligible, even if they lose the regular-season finale against SMU.
And I nearly choked on my Cheerios when I looked up ESPN's bowl predictions and saw they had the same idea.
In case you need any reminders, here's why Cal coached by Rolovich isn't just another mediocre "who cares?" dance partner for UH on Christmas Eve:
>> The guy is a major part of why the Hawaii Bowl even EXISTS. Yes, coach June Jones and the rest of the 2001 UH football team deserve credit, too. But it was Rolovich who threw 20 touchdown passes in the last three games of the season, including eight in the 72-45 blowout of BYU for the finale. But even at 9-3 the Warriors were all dressed up with nowhere to go for a bowl game. Then, voila, the Hawaii Bowl is born in 2002.
>> When Rolovich was a senior in 2001, he did not begin the season as the starter. It was the second-year freshman he'd shared time with the year before, a guy named Timmy Chang. Now the Warriors' fourth-year head coach, Chang was injured early in 2001, and UH won nine of its last 10 games with Rolovich behind center.
In 2002, '03 and '04, Chang quarterbacked the Warriors to the Hawaii Bowl, winning two of the three. This will be his first as the Hawaii head coach. Who better to match wits with on the other sideline than his former teammate?
>> Circling back to that 2019 Hawaii Bowl the last one UH played in care to guess who the UH coach was then? Yes, it was Rolo's last game before leaving for Washington State, and Hawaii beat BYU 38-34 to finish the year 10-5. Rolovich guided the Warriors to three Hawaii Bowls in his four seasons as head coach, winning two of them.
>> Not enough storylines? How about homecoming for Cal freshman starting quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, the former Campbell star? It has been widely reported, including by the Star-Advertiser's Paul Honda, that Rolovich's presence at Cal as a senior offensive assistant is why JKS ended up at Berkeley. Their relationship might also be why Rolo was chosen for interim head coach over other Cal staffers, including former Boise State head coach Bryan Harsin.
Did you read the part about Rolo and JKS?
